Well it’s the Holiday Season and you know what that means… Lots of shopping, going to parties, and the hustle and bustle of the season. I don’t mean to be Scrooge but here are some very important safety tips to keep you safe for the Holiday Season.
Being on your PHONE IS NOT SAFE!!! It is a huge distraction when you are distracted that is a great time for MR. BAD GUY to ATTACK you.
REMEMBER where you parked your car and AVOID using your KEY LESS ENTRY to find your car. This is a great way to let Mr. Bad Guy where you are at and how to plan his attack.
If you are out enjoying some HOLIDAY BEVERAGES keep your INTAKE LOW and remember to keep track of your drink. It is very easy for someone to slip something into your drink. Also drink lots of water and eat consistantly this will help you moderate your alcohol levels.
I hope that these help to keep you and your loved ones safe. We have ongoing Self-Defense classes on going during the holidays!!! Not only will they help you to be safe they can also help you avoid adding any extra holiday goodies to your waistline.
In this video clip Sensei Erik Paulson (www.erikpaulson.com) is teaching defending standing guard passes. He shows how to use your feet and hips so not to get your legs controlled, how to use your knees so that the person that is standing can’t punch your head and also he shows how to use an axe kick from your guard!!!
Also don’t miss the last submission combo he does it is pretty cool!!!
In the last month we have had 3 really big events @ Synergy Martial Arts (SMA) so here is the update on all the happenings.
On 10-12-09 we moved into our new location Hamburg Fitness Center (www.hamburgfitness.com) and since we have moved in we have had 6 new students join SMA.
On 11-12-09 Synergy Martial Arts Instructors Shawn Kitzman, Jeffery Lopes and Jerry Whiting taught a 2 hour Clinch Workshop @ Gladiator MMA (www.gladiator-mma.com). We had a blast the guys @ Gladiator were eager to learn and worked really hard on the material.
The feedback was tremendous and we were approached to teach @ Gladiator. So beginning on 12-10-09 Synergy Martial Arts Instructors Shawn Kitzman and Jeffery Lopes will be teaching from 7-9pm @ Gladiator.
For our regular students Jerry will continue to teach the Thursday night 6-8pm classes.
I would like to thank Jerry and Lopes for all of their hardwork and dedication. SMA would not be where we are at without them and my skill level as a Martial Artist and Instructor would not have grown the way that it has. Thanks guys : )
So there is all the news for now. Check back soon there is gonna be another big announcement soon.
Upon my looking thru youtube today I found a clip of Sensei Yori Nakamura demonstrating the Shoot Wrestling Lock Flow series 1 and it is amazing!!!
For those of you who don’t know who Sensei Yori is here is the background that I have been told on him. He trained at the Super Tiger Shoot Wrestling Gym in Japan under Satoru Sayama in the 1980’s and came to the Inosanto Academy (www.inosanto.com) in 1989.
At the Inosanto Academy here is a small list of the people that he taught
I know that there are many more people that he taught while at the academy. Those 3 have had a huge influence on me and my training. I remember when Sifu Dave would go to the academy and get to train with Sensei Yori he would come back and rave about him and how dynamic he was. There are many clips on Youtube of Sensei Yori this one stood out to me.
Hope you enjoyed this video clip as much as I did.
Synergy Martial Arts began in the Summer of 2005 and since then we have often been asked if we teach Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). The answer to that is yes and no. Now I know that was and incredibly vague answer but it is the truth and here is why.
Synergy Martial Arts has been and always will be dedicated to
Giving our students the most effective training methods and material that we can find so if the need ever arises they can defend themselves or a loved one.
Exposing our students to a variety of training methods and material so that we as a group are well-rounded Martial Artists. It is not our intention to create the “best” Muay Thai, Kali, Grappler etc. If along the way a student becomes a great Muay Thai fighter/Instructor that is great but it is not our intention.
Create an atmosphere where Martial Arts becomes a lifestyle not just a hobby. This will create relationships that go far beyond time in class. Our hope is that students become not just fellow students but training partners and get together outside of class to train and socialize.
With all of that being said MMA is a sport and for many MMA practitioners and they often train a small amount of stand-up, clinching and grappling so that their fight game is streamlined and simple. What I have found over the years is in that simplicity they often miss out on other training methods that will help them as they mature as fighters.
One of the most well-rounded and talented MMA fighters that I know personally is Martial Arts Unlimited Founder Chris Malgerie (www.maunlimited.com) look @ his bio and you will see that he has trained in many different Arts and has many different Instructors. Chris is a Martial Artist first and MMA fighter 2nd.
Here is something that saddens me when I talk to MMA competitors quite often after they are done competing they will leave Martial Arts. This happens because their entire focus revolves around training and competing. They don’t have a love for Martial Arts just competing. In my opinion what they are missing is the amazing experiences, relationships and lifestyle that Martial Arts offers.
At Synergy Martial Arts we have been training with Instructors that have been involved in aspects of MMA for 30 years. My Sifu’s Dan Inosanto, Dave Hatch and Paul Vunak have been at the front of spreading Muay Thai, Grappling Arts, Boxing and Jun Fan Gung Fu/Jeet Kune Do since the late 70’s.
I began personally training Muay Thai, Boxing and Grappling Arts in 1995 along with Filipino Martial Arts, Jun Fan Gung Fu/Jeet Kune Do, Filipino/Indonesian Silat and Wing Chun. We also are constantly researching what we train and teach two of our influences are also top MMA trainers/coaches.
So to again answer the question do we teach MMA? The answer is yes and no. While it is a vague answer I can promise you this if you compete in MMA I believe that training with us will give you strategies and training methods that will help improve your fighting game.
In Part 1 I gave a little of my background and my definition for Self-Defense and Street-Fighting. In Part 2 I want to use a story to further cement my definitions of both to you.
Let us say that I am out with my girl-friend and her 4-year-old son @ a Disney on Ice show (or insert other family outing here). On the way back to the car that is a couple of blocks away we run into a group of 3 guys who just got kicked out of the bar and are pissed off looking to take it out on someone. Now here is where the situation gets a little dicey in my opinion because I believe that when you train self-defense you should have a high level of awareness of your surroundings especially when in an unfamiliar enviroment.
But let’s say that they just got tossed out of the bar and we run into them coming around a street corner. I accidentally bump into one of the guys and he in his drunken pissed off mood he takes this personally and pushes me and starts saying some less than complementary things about me and my girl-friend. Ok again we are at another crucial point here in that I verbal banter is usually something that I think that you should engage in while trying to get out of the potential Self-Defense situation.
As he is talking to me I get some distance and try to diffuse the situation by apologizing saying that I didn’t see him etc. Now I am at a very critical stage here because I can’t just get enough space to turn and run because I have 2 other people to think about one of them being a 4-year-old that I would have to pick up and carry.
Regardless of what I say to him I cannot diffuse the situation and he starts to aggressively move towards us. Lets say that he is the only one acting aggressively and but because of the situation I can’t get a good read on his friends. I am left with no other option but to defend not only myself but I am now also protecting two other people.
I hope that this scenario paints the picture in your mind that this was an unexpected situation and I really had no choice but to stand and defend us. Now here is my definition of Street-Fighting.
I hope that this helps clarify my definition of Self-Defense and Street-Fighting. Also that scenario while fictional can happen to anyone especially if they are not aware of their surroundings.
I will leave you with two questions that you can answer for yourself.
What would you do if something like that this happened to you?
Do you have the skill sets to get yourself and your loved ones out of a situation like that as quickly and safely?
If you are not sure or answered no to question # 2 contact me. I don’t care if you live in another state or country I will help you get yourself into a quality Self-Defense that will give you the skills to keep you and your loved ones safe.
I have been training Martial Arts since 1992 and my original intention for training was Self-Defense along the way I have fallen in love with the Arts and studying different cultures, meeting new people and the constant learning that comes with training.
In the 80’s and 90’s the catch word for Self-Defense was Street Fighting and I heard it brought up the other day while teaching. The student that brought it up was in his early 20’s and does some bouncing for a local bar, shortly after he said the term Street-Fighting another student in his 40’s said something like “it’s not called Street-Fighting it’s called Self-Defense”.
Now here is the question that I am going to pose to you all. Are they really talking about the same thing? Is Street-Fighting and Self-Defense the same thing?
My own personal feeling is no they are not and I will explain why as I go on but first let me give you a little back ground from my experience and researching of the Self-Defense field.
My own journey started with a Karate program through Community Education. It was fun and a great intro to Martial Arts but immediately I felt & still feel that the actual material that could be used in a Self-Defense was pretty small.
In 1994 I watched a Paul Vunak (www.fighting.net) Instructional Video Attributes 2. Now what I saw was really what I thought Self-Defense should look like. It was pretty brutal he was talking about head butts, knees and elbows from clinching range. All of these tools are very damaging to the human body. During that time Paul had a tape series called the Straight Fighting Series that was actually made from his experiences in actual Street Fights.
So here is my definition of both Self-Defense and Street Fighting.
Self-Defense: Is the need to defend oneself or loved ones when in a situation that is unexpected and unavoidable. Here is a situation that I think of often that may help you understand my definition better.
Street-Fighting: A situation where an individual or group is in an aggressive state and are looking for a violent way to blow off some steam. Often alcohol or drugs have influenced this heightened state of aggression. See part 2 story and take a guess at which group falls in the definition of Street-Fighting.
In part 2 I am going to use a story to further explain my definition.
This week we had a new student come to our Kaizen Young Adult Self-Defense class. His mom mentioned that she was concerned about him using what I taught him on his brother or his peers. I explained to both the students and the parents that at Synergy Martial Arts we have a zero tolerance policy with our students regardless of age. We have researched our training methods and techniques to provide our students with very effective material that will work if they need to use it. But along with that knowledge comes great responsibility and our students understand that it is only to be used as a last resort and if they use it irresponsibly they will be asked to leave the program and not return.
It is my belief that if someone is training Martial Arts/Self-Defense then they had better have material that will save their life. I have witnessed many a Martial Arts Instructor teach techniques that have a low percentage of chance to succeed and a high percentage to get the student hurt.
The reason that the title of this blog is Violence is rarely the answer but… is because while I truly believe that violence is not the answer there is no reason to be a victim. So I feel that Self-Defense and Martial Arts should be something that everyone takes for a minimum of 8 weeks. This would give the student enough time to learn and understand the basics that are being taught. This also allows them to begin to understand the mental and emotional mindset that it takes for someone to attack another person as well as what it feels like to be attacked and how to defend themselves.
Self-Defense training to me is like insurance for your car or house, you never really plan to use it but you are glad when something happens that you do have it. People will pay a lot of money for insurance which has really very little physical benefit. Self-Defense and Martial Arts have many benefits to them besides the increase in personal safety. Being in better physical shape increases self-confidence and decreases many potential health risks such as joint pain/problems, back injuries, diabetes from added weight etc.
In closing if you have not taken a Self-Defense class I highly recommend that you do who knows you may really like it and it may save your life.
In this Interview with Sifu Rick Faye (www.mnkali.com) he discusses his progress in spreading JKD to Chile, his relationship with Sigung Dan Inosanto (www.inosanto.com), the difference between Jun Fan Gung Fu and Jeet Kune Do, and the different Instructors who have influenced him.
I feel that this video is very important in that it explains some of the Instructors who have a very large influence on Jeet Kune Do and it’s evolution.
I would like to draw your attention to a Martial Arts Instructor who I have an alot of respect for Kru Greg Nelson.
If you do not know who Kru Greg Nelson ( http://www.mmaacombatzone.com) you really should take a look @ his material it is amazing!!!
But his Martial Arts accomplishments are nothing compared to him being a two-time cancer survivor!!! I cannot imagine having cancer even once but twice is amazing!!! He credits Martial Arts and the conditioning he has done with helping him get through chemo and cancer.
In this video he discusses the people that have influenced him in Martial Arts. One of the really cool things about Kru Greg is his humility and his balanced view on not only himself but training Martial Arts as well. In the world of big ego MMA Kru Greg is on top of the food chain as a trainer and coach he has maintained a very humble attitude.. He currently is coaching UFC Heavyweight Champ Brock Lesner as well as top MMA fighters like Sean Sherk.
Posted by synergymartialarts 
Posted by synergymartialarts 
Posted by synergymartialarts 
